he is the one that said that president obama is articulate and clean -- took a shower. >> and robust. unchain -- put you back in chains. i think he said that. thanks for being with us. that's all the time we have left. let not your heart be troubled, greta's next, see you tomorrow night. >> greta: this is a fox news alert. did the state department just blow the white house's cover story about libya? tonight, the state department said it never linked the attack on our benghazi consulate to an anti-muslim video. a senior state department official says his department did not conclude the attack stemmed from protest over the video. so why did the obama administration spend more than a week using the video as an excuse for the terror attack? congressional hearing is set for tomorrow. we will talk about this, breaking news, ambassador john bolton in just a minute. but first, president obama -- well, he might need strong

medicine because governor mitt romney's growing lead might make him sick. the romney campaign is surging in the battleground states. now, as governor romney is soaring to a political rock star status, another rock star is ark pol ising for the president. >> this is a little difficult to -- to put myself in this position, knowing that i may alien eight a few fans. i am very proud to say that we have have elected our first black president. i am sorry he didn't do a better job. >> a gallup poll shows governor romney with a 2-point edge. >> the days after the debate, the groundswell of romney winning is bigger. i think that gap is going to widen. >> obama's been on defense the last week. >> woo vepolling data now... that shows that romney is ahead, wherever he is ahead. i think he has been ahead for months or weeks. i don't think it happened overnight. but they are all saying romney

is surging. >> he was on the stage with the president of the united states. he looked like he was in command. he was in charge of the entire discussion. i think that's the reason the polls are tightening right now. >> i told you 3 months ago, 2 months ago and 1 month ago, if the election were held on that day, it would be a landslide romney. >> the facts are the facts. we just saw them come to light in the last debate. with no outside b.s., no bias, media, no interruptions and negative political ads every five seconds. and most importantly, no damn teleprompters. >> the debate is not just shifting the polls. the debate is creating momentum. >> this business of just going out and calling a candidate for the president of the united states, a liar, just say liar, liar, this is a new low. this is a really -- really a new low. >> this campaign is, romney is a

lying skunk that you can't trust... that doesn't like poor people and doesn't like the middle class, has way too much money. >> it's like someone that, you know, in the sand box, that lost the game and they for going to kick sand in somebody's face and say, you liar. they lost. >> greta: tonight, a brand-new reason for the democrats to not like the game. the latest poll showing mitt romney pulling ahead of president obam a. governor romney leading 49% to 47% among likely voters. brit hume is here. nice to see you. there is a lot of enthusiasm by the people in the sound bite. but if you look at democrats, they concede that the momentum is definitely in governor romney's favor. what can -- in president obama -- governor romney's favor. what can president obama do? >> i think he would be wise not to panic because these polls, if you look at the gallup poll is sampled two way, registered

voters and president obamma was a ahead. had they asked the questions that they asked to determine who is likely voter and broke out that set of voters, that indicated they were likely voters, you have mitt romney ahead by two percentage points, that's well inside the margin of error. so it could be the other way. so basically, what this is sell tells us is that the race remains exceedingly close, while the debate performance, that even many democrats acknowledge was a win for governor romney and has given him momentum here, it's very close. >> greta: it may be close and well within the margin of error. but it's profoundly different by the poll numbers than it was a few weeks ago. it shows the wave is moving in the romney direction. i don't know if something's going to stop t. but i assume that president obama doesn't like the direction this is going. >>im sure he doesn't. we don't know whether this is a mere bounce, that you sometimes get out of an event, for example, the president obama got out of his convention, he got a

bounce and it began to subside. bounces subside. if this is a surge or a wave of sentiment, that doesn't subside, that would really be quite different and the race would be -- governor romney might be on the way to victory. but we don't know yet. >> greta: gallup puts a brake on it. it says the registered voter trends suggest that romney's initial gains from the strong performance in last week's debate may be shortlived. >> gallup is the oldest and i think the best-known polling organization. they have a very good reputation, and for good reasonful they do a good job. and that's characteristic caution from gallup you are seeing because it is true that -- that among registered voters, the president is doing just fine, as well as he was beforehand. they are right to have that cautionary note. >> greta: i guess the ground game becomes profoundly important. >> it does. in the ground game, you are trying to turn a registered

voter not into a likely voter, but an actual voter. that can turn an election. it did in 20 0 4 . neutral cps in the country, either side could have won. by the margin of 116,000 votes in the state of ohio... president bush with a fabulously effective turnout operation, the democrats did a great job, but the bush team did better and they won the lrksz. >> greta: i don't have much information on the ground game. but i read about south florida, where they said that the -- president obama has 12 offices and governor romney has 4. it's a very democratic area. but i realize how little -- >> we all don't know, what the offices schist of or how many people near them or whether they are using larger offices in fewer places. unless we knew all of that, we wouldn't judge that. >> greta: we don't talk about that. we are paying attention to the polls, but we are not digging down to see, you know, how much of a threat the ground game is.

>> it's hard to know in advance of the final several days because that's when everybody's cranking up the operation and goes into effect. it is not that much you can do -- you will hear metrics like how many voter calls have you made and how many contacts you have made. but nobody knows howesquive they are until the final days. that's when the operation goes into effect. >> greta: the new dynamic is early voting. so that make its more complicated to try to figure it out. >> it dis. and one of the metrics there, how many requests for absentee ballots do you get. i voted in virginia. i am normal nenew york on election night. so i do it early. i will go down voter registrars office and they'll let me vote ahead of time. i don't know how many people may not be counting that, either. it's -- these are hard things to figure out ahead of time. >> greta: brit, thank you. see you thursday night. >> thursday night. i will be here. >> greta: thank you. now to the all-important swing states. governor romney's momentum,

swinging to ohio. according to the latest american research group poll, governor romney leap-fragging past president obama in the buckeye state, leading 48-47%. last month in ohio, president obama led 48-47%. ohio senator rob portman is here. good evening, sir. >> gret a. how are you? >> greta: i'm very well. even though it's well within the margin of error and a tick upward, you must be pleased at your -- you are in the game. >> we are pleased with the polling and we are pleased with what is happening on the ground. we just had a rally here we had 13,000 people show up. i am seeing it everywhere. i was in another key part of the state yesterday, there, we had books showing up, they had a staff. we have a lot more energy and enthusiasm than in 2008.

that will make a big difference. >> greta: how does this play in in i saw in a poll treflected the fact that governor romney opposed the bailout of g.m. and president obamma was a hero to the g.m. workers in ohio? >> well, it's an interesting situation because people are finding out a lot more about it. president obama actually took general motors and chrysler to a managed bankruptcy, which is what mitt romney sked be done, but to do it sooner to avoid the loss of taxpayer funds. the taxpayers were out $20 billion or more. so when people are finding out what rom room intended, it was what he intended, but without the problems, costing the taxpayers more. i was here tonight with delphi workers who were left out. they took care of the pensions on the union side, but not delphi. so i think as people are

learning more about that, they are realizing that governor romney had a proposal that would have gotten the auto companies back on their feet without the concerns and problems that have been incurred because of the way the obama administration did it. >> greta: okay. how do you prepare governor romney for his debate? what do do you? >> you know, the reason he did so well on wednesday was because he was being mitt romney. democrats i think thought that the caricature was going to show up. when they misrepresent his tax plan and he is able to say, you know, face to face with president obama, that's not my plan. here it is. and lay it out, you know, it's very hard for president obama because what he has been doing for months now, here in ohio and elsewhere, showing negative ads that misrepresent what mitt romney is all about. he will do that again at the next debate. it will be a debate where president obama will do well, i'm sure, because it's a town hall-type debate. he likes those. but mitt romney will do when he did in the last one, setting the record straight and letting the

american people know where he stands. the more he does that, the better we do in ohio. the polls are great, but what i am senszing on the ground, the undecided voters are hearing what mitt romney's actually for, rather than seeing the tv ads and the obama administration has a very different approach. the obama campaign has been beating us on the airwaves and putsing a lot more money in ohio and the same is true in virginia and florida. but now folks are hearing straight from mitt romney, unfiltered. to the extent that continues, we doll very well. >> greta: in terms of preparing it, did you do mock debates, spend hours studying materials? how is it done? very few people have prepared for a presidential debate? >> honestly, i don't think it's as much about the preparation as the candidate. mitt romney -- took it seriously -- >> greta: i realize that -- [overlapping dialogue] >> he was the real mitt romney. that's why he won.

>> greta: you can tell me a little bit behind the scenes? >> it is not that complicated. you know, there is not that much to tell you. but, you know, your job is to go out and represent the opponent and try to do it faithfully and try to be tougher than the opponent will be, so partway through the debate, your person says, gee, it is not baz bad as i thought it would be, but ultimately, all the adviser and the folks that work with the candidates to prepare someone are not what is important. what is important is when you are alone on the stage and you believe what you are promoting is the right way for our country. you saw that. you have the right policies and the solutions. folks in olieo are not looking for more rhetoric. they want to know how will their lives be better. they are concerned about another four years like the last four. that's what governor romney did tonight when he talked to this crowd of 13,000 people. it's what he did in the debate on wednesday and what he will do

at the next dedate bait. that means we will win ohio. it will be close. it always is in ohio. but this is about jobs and the economy and who has the better plan. there is no question that mitt romney's plans are better for ohio, working families. that's why we are going to win. >> greta: ohio has a lower unemployment rate than the national average. i thought that would help the president. is the ohio unemployment level below the new level. if so, can't the president take a bow for that? >> it is. it is a little lower than the national average, about a point below. but still, people in ohio don't feel like the economy's doing well. if you add the people who have stopped looking, that would be 10%. that's not acceptable. so when you look at the polls, are out wrong track, right direction? we reflect the nation. we think we are on the wrong track because we know that ohio's economy is want as strong as it should be. we are better than the rest of

the country, but the rest of the country is in trouble. we near trouble, we understand that. we know we're not bringing back the jobs that we should. we have had bad numbers. the manufacturing jobs are not coming back. in fact, we see manufacturing job loss. we have seen here in ohio and around the country, more folks on food stamps and poverty. we have seen higher gas prices and health care costs. it is the middle class squeeze. with what mitt romney is proposing is new ideas, not just more of the same. >> greta: one thing i do think is interesting is where the jobs are created, in the service industry, not the manufacturing, which may come back to haunt us in the years to come. i am going to take the last word on that. thank you. >> thanks. great to talk to you. >> greta: four weeks ago, president obama boasted that al qaeda is now on its heels. but now, a veteran war correspondent is going to battle with the president. cbs news, laura logan did her own investigation of al qaeda in afghanistan and she insists

there is a lie out of washington that the military might has tamed the taliban. she warns the taliban and al qaeda are coming back and logan also claims that the u.s. should exact revenge on the libya terror attack. and a senior state official says in the state department, his department never said that the attack was sparked by protests from the video. john bolton is here. good evening, sir. state department says, don't blame us, we never said video, saying it on the eve of a committee hearing tomorrow. >> i think the wheels have been coming off the administration's version of this incident for a long time. i think the reality has always been that these were terrorist attacks in the case of libya, and radical demonstrations in cairo and other countries in the middle-east. and the whole idea that this somehow was caused by the video has never withstood scrutiny.

that's why the administration, i think is so concerned about the hearings and then when you hear speeches by somebody like laura logan that -- that undercuts their entire narrative. this is very serious for the administration. >> greta: even things like a 14-year-old girl in pakistan, shot in the head by the taliban, they are bragging about it because she was advocating education for girls. yesterday in a san francisco fund-raiser, presidents obama saying, today, al qaeda is on its heels. you know -- why is he seeming to make it look so much better with al qaeda, when that's just not the situation? >> he wants to get past november 6. the whole argument is that i brought peace to the world, the tide of war is receding. i think it's almost inevitable, if we withdraw from afghanistan, accord to the president's schedule in 2014, the taliban and al qaeda will take back over again and the human sacrifice we

have made, 2,000 americans dead, will have been completely wasted. that's the direction it is going. that's what laura logan was saying. the point she is making is that the radical islam sifts hatred for western society is not something you can correct without force and response. that's the reality t. may be hard fer americans to understand, but that's the. >> greta: you know what i find most distressing. the narrative since the last debate from the obama campaign is that governor romney is a liar. and people are talking about he lied or not. ed a.p. report said he didn't. but you can't get the obama campaign off the word lie or dishonest, or however they sugar-coat the word. yet the administration -- i mean deliberately went out with this cover story on youtube, when the state department said, don't blame us, we didn't do it. the intelligence community's saying we didn't do it. they send the ambassador from

the u.n -- jay carnet and president -- you know... lie? >> is that a lie? >> when the state department's career bureaucracy takes on a leftist democratic administration and tries to separate itself from a liberal white house, you know the white house has got a big problem. and i think the testimony tomorrow is going to be very damaging for the administration, whether it was a flatout coverup that involved outright deception or ideology. >> greta: how can it be a mistake with the state department saying we didn't do it -- >> they don't believe it. >> greta: how can you say it was oh, i just thought it was, if you have the state department coming out saying, no, we didn't. you have the intelligence community saying, no we didn't. the only one saying it might be a video is the white house. >> either it's a coverup or ideology. they can't process that radical islam is not something that

stems from economic determinism, it is determined to confront and destroy us. we are withdrawing from iraq and afghanistan, we are not going to have a war on terror is know a response that sells with the american people. >> greta: the way this information was disseminate to the people -- the state department did this on the eve of the hearing with a conference call, called a conference call with the members of the media to tell them all at once. they left fox news off the list. >> how unfortunate. >> greta: was that an accident? do you think? or that was deliberate? we have been hord hard them. they have apologized. is that -- what do you make of that? >> it's very hard to believe it's an accident. but i would like to know, i guess we don't know, who the senior official was. one state department senior official on september 12, the day after the attack, patrick kennedy, under secretary for management, briefed congressional staff members that it was a terrorist attack. so if he is giving the

off-the-record briefing, he is being consistent with what he said a month ago. >> greta: thank you. >> thank you. >> greta: coming up, congressman allen west is here. he is fired up. and he says the presidential race is between the opportunity society and the dependence society. libya or sesame street? governor romney says, have you to scratch your head when the president spends the last week talking about saving big bird. wait until you hear what our political panel says. stay tuned. bp has paid over twenty-three billion dollars to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. d bp's also committed to america. we support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. our commitment has never been stronger.

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>> just a race between what is simply called the opportunity society versus the dependency society. and what you saw wednesday night was when the opportunity society takes the stage with the fendency society, the opportunity society wins! >> greta: fired up congressman allen west, rallying the crowd in a rom flee campaign event. well, there is no doubt about it, florida is a big battleground state. and congressman west is going to battle for governor romney. nice to see you, sir itch pleasure to be here. >> greta: i am curious that the opportunity society versus the

dependency society, are you saying that president obama's voters don't want jobs? no. i am not saying the voters don't want jobs. of course, everyone wants jobs. i am talking about the policy between the obama administration and what mitt romney is offering. when you look at what happened in port saint lucie when governor romney was there on sunday. huclose to 16,000 people there. they were there, coming from a county, here, that has almost a 13% unemployment rate. they don't want to be part of a dependency society, they want people that are going to create the right type of tax and regulatory policies, access to capital policies that will allow our small businesses to get back to being opened and also to return production and manufacturing to this country. they don't want to see the policies that continue to go from 26 weeks of unemployment benefits up to 99 weeks. they don't want to be part of a society that goes from 32 million americans on food stamps, but 47 million americans. they don't want to be part of a society that has gone to 9.3

million more americans on poverty. that's what the dependency society gives you. plus, with that, the expansion of the federal government. you get $16 tril whereon in debt and four straight years of trillion-dollar-plus deficits. we have to move away from that. >> greta: i suspect if president obama were here, he would say that what he has done is to give people opportunity, that you need to jump-start people. you need to give them a little help, every once in a while to jump start it. how do you answer him to that remark? >> i would say, mr. president, you gave us some 800 to 9 mon. billion dollars of a stimulus package. you said that unemployment would never go above 8%. it remained at 8% or above 43 straight months. even still issue you say that unemployment would be 5.8% to 6%. you haven't jump-started anything. as a matter of fact, you wasted almost $twenty one trillion of american taxpayer money and continue to see yourself as a

venture capitalist, using american taxpayer money for failed companies that you want to try to pick, based upon your own policies. this is about take org tax code and taking the tax rates and bringing them down, so we can infuse capital into the pockets of the job creators and the entrepreneurs. this is about looking to the trillions of dollars of capital sitting offshore and bringing that back onshore, allowing the repay the -- repatriation. we have to lower the exemptions and deductions and look at keeping the mortgage interest and charitable contributions to continue to have a benevolent group of americans that can take care of others. but everything of president obam's vision and philosophy and governance has failed. i would be happy to have a dhat with the president on what you just talked about. >> greta: in two nights, we will have the vice-presidential debate. i am curious what you want to--- hear vice-presidential paul ryan

say about medicare in light of the fact that you have a lot of medicare recipients in florida. >> all i want paul ryan to do is to tell the truth. i want paul ryan to say that the actuaries of medicare and social security have said in 2024, medicare goes bankrupt. joe biden can try to criticize paul ryan. to you about do nothing means that we lose medicare program for our seniors right now. we have a proposal that is on the table that will protect and preserve medicare. one of the things that i look at just last week, we have a new mandate that came down from the affordable care act that says that seniors, if they return back to a hospital within 30 days of a visit, the hospital will receive a fine. i don't think those are the policies that will help medicare. they won't help our seniors and taking $716 billion out of medicare, $517 billion in part "a," $247 billion in part "b," that's not what our seniors in south florida want.

they are definitely afraid about the reimbursement rateses being lowered and doctors taking them off their medicare coverage. paul ryan needs to talk about the facts and watch joe biden run scurrying, like rats off the titanic. >> greta: congressman, thank you. >> always a pleasure. >> greta: coming up, did a pro-obama group break the law in florida? outraged republicans, accused of infiltrating high schools. what are they after? on the ground in florida. what we uncovered is next. this a rather odd duo. our first lady, michelle obama and sarsars sharing tips. what do they now have in common? meet the five-passenger ford c-max hybrid. c-max says ha. c-max says wheeee. which is what you get, don't you see? cause c-max has lots more horsepower than prius v,

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>> greta: is this a bad lesson in political science in tonight many paraphernalias in florida are outraged? why? a pro-obama group was allowed to give registration drives and give speeches, but the same district denied the romney campaign the chance to do the same. what is going on? were any laws broken? griff jenkins hit the grown to findute. >> reporter: in pasco county, volunteers gained access on multiple occasions to high schools to register voters, here at gulf high school, that happened last month. a supervisor of elections here in pasco county says, laws may have been broken. >> a big part of the story is

whether or not the folks representing themselves as part of your staff, from the elections office, or whether they are identified as organizing america and were allowed onto the school property. if they represent themselves as being with organized for america, that's a violation. it is a violation of florida law to use deceptive practices to register people to vote. so if that is the case, where individuals indicated they were with the supervisessors of elections office, that would be a criminal charge. it is too early to ascertain that. >> reporter: bill bunting, is it is republican state committee here in pasco county, you received a message that put much of this into play. tell us what happened? >> well, a teacher from gulf high school was nice enough to give me a call and tell me that the obama campaign was in her school, registering voters, under the guise of orgization

near america. they came in under false pretenses because when they came into the school, they said they represented the supervisors of election office. therein lies the problem. she was nice enough to invite to to -- invite me to speak and then the night before, i got a call from the pins pal and said i would not be allowed to speak. >> reporter: what wu given to not come and speak? >> i was not given a clear definition from miss davis as to what it was. then, subsequently, i was re-invited to speak. and then, i got a call from the superintendent of schools...: and that was 11 hours before i was to speak and she said, we can't have you come and speak on the advice of our attorney because one group came in and hayshouldn't have been there. it was wrong. it was illegal. i appeared before the school board and the attorney, dennis

alfonso met with me separately and also said, there may have been crimes here so we don't want to bring a second party in. >> reporter: to your knowledge, how many instances do you suppose this could have happend? is this just the one at gulf or elsewhere? >> it is not the one at gulf. we know it happened at fivea, i heard from a parent there whose daughter was approached in the cafeteria, who was a senior. we also know that it happened in hudson high school, and it happened at sun lake high school. >> reporter: the parent of a student in one of the schools here in pasco county, where organizing for america came and made a speech. linda, tell us what happened? >> well, from what i know, we thought they were poll workers coming to the lunch room, you know, trying to get the students to register to vote of but it turns out it was from the obama campaign. they are organizing for america...: workers. these people were coming to the lunch room with the clipboard and on the back, they had

obama/biden stickers on the clipboard, you know, looking for voters to get registered. >> greta: now the response from the obama campaign, in a statement, an obama for america spokesperson saying, this incident represents a simple misunderstanding regarding a volunteer who is no longer with our organization. all our volunteers go through a rigorous and extensive training process to insure they comply with all laws, when reamingsterring voters. a month ago, immediately after the incident in question, the volunteer apologized to the school. as the pasco county school has indicated, the school has moved on from this. and so have we. >> next up, sesame street, big bird special elmo taking the spotlight. so what has the campaign come to? our political panel answers that next. and former governor and v.p. candidate sarah palin taking on a new job. what is her next big project? and why would first lady

michelle obama approve?

>> greta: lots of comfort food and exercise. that's alaska governor sarah palin's secret to staying fit. she wants to share her fitness and diet tips with you, writing a new book about staying in shape, teaming up with her family for the project. they want to share their way of combooning good food with physical activity, saying it's possible to balance home-made comfort food with fitness. she is a fan of low-carb eating. you have probably heard of her love of moose stew and they are fond of snow mobiling, hiking and hiking. she calls the book unique and motivating and says the book focuses on where we get our energy and balance as we eat our beloved home-made comfort foods. what do you think of governor palin's latest project? we are back in 2 minutes. gretawire.com. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 let's talk about that 401(k) you picked up back in the '80s.

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astrazeneca may be able to help. >> greta: the presidential race take ace deature to sesame street. let's go to the newsroom, where ainsley earhardt is standing by with the other headlines. >> hey, thank you. the former penn state assistant football coach, jerry sandusky will likely spend the rest of his life in prison, sentenced to 30 to 60 years for sexually abusing 10 boys over a 15-year period. three of the victims addressing the court, fighting back tears as they describe what they went through. sandusky spoke and painted him as an innocent victim. he is expected to appeal. a fungalmengitis outbreak is spreading, with more cases in more states. 11 people have died and the number of infected patients growing to 119. new jersey has joined 9 other states reporting these cases. the outbreak linked to a steroid injection, linked to back pain.

the company recalling all of their product it is. i'm ainsley earhardt, back to "on the record" with greta. >> the mideast is exploding with anti-american violence and our nation is $16 trillion in debt. what is the focus of the presidential race right now? you guessed it -- sesame street. the obama campaign putting a new ad. its star, big bird. >> one man has the guts to speak his name. >> big bird. >> big bird. >> it's me, big bird. >> big, yellow, a menace to our economy. mitt romney knows it is not wall street you have to worry about, it's sesame street. >> greta: and the republican national committee striking back with this graphic of sesame street's, the count. since the debate, president obama has mention the big bird 8 times and elmo, 5 times and libya and a plan to fix the economy -- zero times. joining me, rick cline, and michael crowley and byron york.

michael... your thoughts? >> well, look, it's clearly sort of a diversionary gimmick. it is kind of a light-hearted way for obama to rebound off a disastrous appearance. you are trying to see them take something fun and steer the conversation back to the terrain that was working so well for them, wall street, romney being a heartless captitallist. there is an interesting point. romney's budget would impose enormous spending cuts. and when he is asked for specifics, he tends to signal out tiny items like pbs and npr, had ch don't do much. so there is a substabtive point to be made. >> i think it's the height of silliness. it has no relevance to most people's lives when you come down to t. i think the obama folks realize they may have had an opportunity to score some political points at the debate and they spent the next 6 days trying to refight that battle

and do it in a more effective way. i don't think this ad is even intended to get out there so much, as michael said, to you about distract us from the fact that he had this poor debate. >> greta: very small by. >> yes. it's a strategy, it's small ball. let's throw something flashy and talk about something different right now. i think -- i don't see it as relevant. i think the republicans are right to jump on it and make fun of the president for putting it out there. >> i think we should point out, it was mitt romney who introduced big bird by name -- >> we should thank him. >> i couldn't believe it when he said it. i do not see how this benefits president obam a. but he has mentioned, time after time. they have another debate coming up on the 16th, at hoffstra university, will he mention it then isn't conservatives would be wanting mitt romney to say, you know, it's produced by big bird by the sesame work shop, which sold $200 million in toys and merchandise in a couple of

years, a few years ago, its ceo makes nearly a million dids, it doesn't need taxpayer money. we get distracted from the big issues. we seize upon them. >> this ad was tailor-made for that, with the menacing music and the madoff and the shadow of big bird on the building. it was -- it's almost a parody of itself. >> the ad came out just as mitt romney had made a big foreign policy speech. maybe you didn't like tmaybe you dbut talking about real, big issues. >> big bird will break thru to people who tune out the familiar attacks and the themes that they have heard over and over. the bottom line, gret ait's about time to vote, we are grabbing on gaffes and gimmicks and people know the big issues already. >> greta: we will take a quick break. straight ahead, a big swing in the swing state, find out what the voters say, that's next. ceru make 70,000 trades a second... ♪

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>> 11 states, 106 electoral votes, crucial to the election. mitt romney taking the lead in those 11 states. a new rasmussen poll gives a combined view and shows mitt romney leading president obama 49-47%. can he turn the poll numbers into votes? we are back with our political

panel. i know that that is well within the margin of error and we are in a bouncy phase. >> a lot of us find it hard to believe that the territory has shifted that quickly. i mean -- >> greta: the unemployment rate. some people -- a lot of numbers have shifted. i spent a week in ohio a week and-a-half ago. i got the real sense that barack obama was ahead, a fair amount. the reason he was ahead is because he had beaten up on mitt romney, every single day in may, in june, in july, in august with a lot of negative television ads. i find it hard to believe that you can turn that around in a week. >> greta: you don't buy it. >> i am skeptical. >> i think it has definitely gotten closer. there is no question. i agree with byron, i fine it hard that romney has surged. i think it's closed in. i want to see more state-level polling. a big problem for romney is that obama seems to have established a firm lead in the state of ohio. a cnn poll shows obama with a

4-pointed lead in ohio. when i see ohio turn, i will feel that romney has a plausible shot. without ohio, the map is hostile, even if the other states are closing. at best, he is slightly ahead in florida now. i think it is very close. but i would say when you look at the reality of the map, obama probably has an advantage. >> high is fute fighting on the obama map. he is glad to be are in the territory. they are playing mostly defense and trying to win back the states that bush won in 2004. but something has changed. but what has changed is going back to where we were, essentially atied it race, a slight obama advantage. i think that probably still applies. there will be a lot of ballgame still to be played the next month to hash this out. romney got himself back in the conversation. he needed a big moment last week. he did change the story and got himself something more positive, to going into the v.p. debate. >> they are tied but

psychological, but romney is a tick up. they are essentially tied. >> the psychology of not looking like a loser is huge. there is a secondary effect, where you get into a spiral. you are behind the polls and you think you are a loser and everything seems like -- the thing only a loser would do. i think he has broken the depth spiral. there is a secondary bounce that will come out of just -- one tick up in the polls, even if he is not leading the race. >> he really was in danger of getting into that spiral. what he got from the debate was what he didn't get special they hoped to get from the convention, you know what i think helped romney, the democrats went after president obama so much, it's the end of the world, it's over, it's terrible and that starts the narrative. i think that everything that the democrats said after the debate hurt. >> that gave the impression that chicago was not the big, confident, all-knowing super powerful machine some people thought. >> the romney campaign but the

out a bill maher tweet. you know when that day come, pigs are flying and everything has changed. >> thursday night. >> >> greta: does it make a difference? >> sure. paul ryan was chosen for a very specific reason. and joe biden has specific things to do. i think because of the stakes from last week, this week will be important to keep it going or change it arounds. >> can you imagine if paul ryan wins? >> greta: we will see. thank you. am coming up, the hits keep coming, president obama can't dodge the debate disaster. next. ♪

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>> greta: 11:00 is almost here, time for last call. is the president practicing hard for the next debate? some people saying he probably should, including jimmy falon. >> apparently after the debate polls show obama trailing mitt romney by one point. yeah. one point. also known the thing obama